Landing - Foot strike in relationship withthe knee

In terms of running mechanics, a common incorrect advise provided by some running 'experts' is to suggest athletes should land underneath their center of gravity. Here is a great post by Pete Larson discussing why the advise is inaccurate. And another post by the Science of Sport discussing different aspects of running gait but addressing why the 'landing under center of gravity' is pretty much and impossible task to accomplish.

In terms of landing and foot striking, is not important what portion of your foot touches the ground first or if it occurs, ahead of your center of gravity; what matters is where it occurs in relationship to your knee angle. If it is ahead of your knee, then that constitutes over striding, otherwise, it is not a problem and unless you get your running economy tested prior any mechanical change, you won't know if the change was beneficial or not. 

In addition, by forcing an athlete to land underneath the center of gravity will require and excessive forward lean that for most would be physically impossible or worst, it would require a shorter stride length that it may affect the active and passive responses of the runner's gait affecting energy transfer effectively increasing the energy cost.

Don't believe the hype or fall for marketing and pseudoscience. Human mechanics are more complex of what many ought it to be. Just because you can change something in your running mechanics doesn't mean you should and unless you test a physiological parameter before and after, you won't be doing anything but guessing whether such a change is beneficial for you or not.






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